Clingmans
Dome

[Fig.
43(12)] Rising 6,643 feet above sea level, Clingmans Dome is the highest
peak in the Great Smokies, outstripping Mount Guyot by some 40 feet. Standing
on the deck of its observation tower, visitors have the park laid out at their
feet, with views stretching into seven states on a clear day.

For its ringside seat to the heavens, Clingmans Dome bears the brunt of what
they have to offer. It wrings from the skies nearly 27 more inches of precipitation
per year than Gatlinburg, located just 22 miles away. Its annual precipitation
rate of 83 inches makes it one of the wettest spots in the continental United
States. Temperatures regularly dip 10 to 15 degrees Fahrenheit lower than the
temperatures in the valleys, and gale-force winds can make a jacket necessary
even in summer.

As its cool climes make it a home to one of the Smokies' rare spruce-fir forests,
Clingmans Dome has become a focal point of the National Park Service's efforts
to battle the balsam woolly aphid and save the Fraser fir from extinction. Originally
from Europe, the aphid was introduced on nursery stock into New England around
1900. First detected in the eastern part of the Smokies in 1963, the aphids
had spread as far west as Clingmans Dome by the late 1970s. Over the last 20
years, more than 95 percent of the mature fir in the park have been killed by
the aphid.

An aphid is a mere millimeter longa white fleck of snow. But its mouthparts
stretch to 2 millimeters. Blown onto a tree by winds or on the wings of a bird,
the aphid inserts these strawlike mouthparts into the bark of its new home to
suck out sap; as it does so, it releases a toxin that eventually cuts off the
tree's internal flow of nutrients. Once stuck, an aphid will not prize itself
loose again. Instead, through asexual reproduction, it produces eggs. In southern
Appalachia, as many as three generations of aphids may be born a year. Although
mere "flecks," they can cover the trunk of a tree so densely it appears
washed in white.

In the mid-1980s the National Park Service began to fight back with a spraying
program at Clingmans Dome and Balsam Mountain Road. Each year in June foresters
comb the woods in these areas to count the number of aphids. Of the 95 mature
firs inspected (aphids only attack older trees with thicker bark), some may
have more than 100 aphids, others may have none. Trees that will not be sprayed
are also studied to establish a control to monitor the success of the program.

In July when the aphids are out in their greatest numbers and are more vulnerable,
the actual spraying begins. Using modified fire pumper trucks with high-pressure
sprayers, a mild insecticidal soap is sprayed onto trees along both sides of
Clingmans Dome Road from Mount Collin's Gap to the Forney Ridge parking area,
a distance of about 3.5 miles. On top of the dome, teams of workers range into
the forest as far as long, high-pressure hoses will reach. A fine mist of the
solution is sprayed onto the base of the tree, so as not to disturb the lichens
and mosses that grow there, but the solution gets stronger as the spray moves
up the trunk. About 9 acres of forest on Clingmans Dome are treated. In a few
weeks, the foresters return to take another count of the aphids. If necessary,
reinfested trees are retreated at that time.

Of course, this is at best a defensive effort. Not every fir can be reached
by the hoses for treatment, nor can every aphid in the park be tracked. It is
also not certain that funding will be appropriated every year for the program.
Yet long-term hope remains. Some mature Fraser firs have survived infestation.
These trees developed odd scars of toughened bark, like fish scales, where attacked.
It is hoped that the next generation of trees will inherit this genetic resistance.
Working in conjunction with the University of Tennessee, the Park Service has
also collected seeds from surviving trees. A "genetic bank" of Fraser
fir now grows adjacent to the park, on property that will soon be donated and
included within the park's boundaries.

The secret to resistance cannot be found too quickly. Eight species of mosses
and liverworts unique to Fraser fir communities have been affected by the infestation.
Among animals, the spruce-fir moss spider has already had its numbers reduced.
Classified as a type of tarantula, the spider lives in mats of moist mosses
at the trees' bottoms. When the fir dies, sunlight comes through the branches
and dries out the spider's habitat. No tree is an islandespecially, it
seems, in the Smokies.

Trail distance and configuration: 1 mile round-trip from parking
area to observation tower.

Degree of difficulty: Moderate, paved but steep.

Elevation: 6,311 feet at the parking area; 6,643 feet at the observation
tower.

Surface: Paved.

Alum
Cave Bluffs

[Fig.
43(8)] It is said that, as a boy, the great Cherokee Chief Yanugunski
discovered the bluffs of Alum Cave when he tracked a bear to its den there.
This is no small feat because the bluffs are situated well up the southern flank
of Mount LeConte at an elevation of 5,000 feet.

Alum Cave is not actually a cave. Rather, it is a 100-foot-tall recess beneath
a ledge of rock that juts out some 30 feet from the mountainside, an awning
built on the grand scale of nature. The elements eroded this outcropping of
the slate-based Anakeesta Formation to form this tremendous overhang.

The smell of sulfur wafts off the bluff's inside walls, which are salty and
bitter to the taste. What the senses report is proven by further study: Alum
Cave is rich in mineral deposits. This fact was not lost on the visitors who
followed Yanugunski to the cave. In the 1830s, a manufacturing company was formed
to mine epsom salts from the bluff (although records indicate that if mining
was done it was not overly successful). During the Civil War, a Confederate
colonel ordered another mine built here to extract saltpeter and sulfides for
gunpowder. The bluff is named for the potassium aluminum sulfate that can be
seen, with saltpeter, encrusted in the walls at the back of the cave.

In modern years, the lode of minerals at Alum Cave has attracted the attention
of geologists. Increasingly rare deposits are being discovered. A few of the
minerals have never been cataloged before and are believed to be unique to the
outcropping.

A trail leading to Alum Cave first passes over a rocky spur known as Inspiration
Point. The view from here encompasses the valley below as well as Little Duck
Hawk Ridge, a sheer cliff (also of the Anakeesta Formation) that lies across
the valley to the west. Historically a nesting place for peregrine falcons (Falco
peregrinus)called "duck hawks" by settlersit may well
become one again. Nesting peregrines were reported in the area in the spring
of 1997, the first pair to nest in the park since 1946.

The climb up Mount LeConte has garnered a reputation as an important benchmark
in any hiker's career in the Smokies. Alum Cave Trail is the shortest but steepest
of the five trails to the summit and travels along scenery considered by many
to be the best in the park. Overnight accommodations are available at LeConte
Lodge, which is a welcomed view a few hundred yards beyond the trail's end.
Reservations, however, should be made well in advance as the 50-person lodge
is often booked as far as a year in advance.

Directions: From Sugarlands Visitor Center, travel south on Newfound
Gap Road (US 441) for 8.6 miles. Parking and trailhead are well marked on
east (left) side of road.

Activities: Hiking.

Trail distance and configuration: 4.9 miles one-way (2.5 miles to
Alum Cave).

Degree of difficulty: Strenuous.

Fees: None.

Closest town: Gatlinburg, 10.6 miles; Cherokee, 22 miles.

Elevation: From 3,850 feet at Newfound Gap Road to 6,350 feet at
junction with Rainbow Falls Trail on summit of Mount LeConte.